It always strikes me when reading about Gite ownership, that it is like having a particularly demanding wife!
Can't imagine where I get that from?
House (gite) must always be impeccable as and when visitors arrive.
Garden and surrounds immaculate.
The ability to walk around a property and see problems (and get someone to fix them!)
Pool cleaned every day and kept to high order (one of the reasons I never had one!)
Never had a gite, but definitely had the other!
I am going to say that I believe, like every job of work we are not all suited
to perform the same duties. Some work is suitable for some people and not for others.
Many people are saying that they were booked up for the season and others, apparently
are not busy.
Could this prove my point?
Above all I hope that people can find work which they enjoy and not just turn to gites
or b and b because they are looking for easy money. The days of easy money have gone.
Hi There
We had a Gite for over 20 years and without doubt bookings have been dropping off Plus punters coming for 1week instead of 2 So we now have a long term lease arrangement Tell your friend not to bother
yes David I know.
Has anyone thought about why the holidaymakers go.
You are using social media now Barbara.Or to be correct a social medium.
Thanks Shirley.
Saw the programme Alex, very interesting and informative. Great idea glamping, beats my 1st experience - 3 girls from our youth club all cramped Into a tiny A frame tent! Didn’t take to camping in those days - too many creepies and crawlies. At least some things have improved for the better now, albeit my camping - pre sailing days are over. I was married then and we were using a Cabanon trailer tent!
Good luck with the glampsite, long may your bookings continue.
Barbara et al - je suis desolee. …
Didn’t mean my post to split up the Freddie tributes! All for one and one for all. Great musician I always watch anything on TV about Freddie or Queen! As there have been more recently in the wee small hours!
We put our responses out there in the ether and God only knows where and when they will land!
Wendy ...good morning.
My property is gated and far from the road. It has a pool alarm and fence.
Social media: facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram etc.
Obviously Barbara I don't know your property so can't comment. Tots do insist on pools with fences or a barrier though.
I agree Barbara we do all have to find our niche, it's the way forward in this market.
Of the places I know (insider info, indoors...) up for sale is a local small but very good hotel. The owner is moving out of the accommodation sector. He owns two local supermarkets and a brico, plus other businesses and also the campsite less than 400m from the hotel he wants to offload, that is often so busy they turn people away. As I understand it, well I asked last night, small to medium size hotels are selling slowly but do sell, larger ones go quite quickly, but down the line chambre d'hôte and gîte sales are not so fantastic. But then she says there are too many on the market at present. That is here, not France generally.
I have no idea about the ins and outs but airbnb type solutions seem to be making a difference to letting but not to selling on small accommodation businesses. She was saying that there are two major obstacles people are confronted with and the first is that too many of them buy without experience as a retirement project. They have no idea how much time, effort and money it really involves only having seen it as guests before. She says that when the places do not do well they seem to have a bit of a neglected look about them, but perhaps it is that lack of attention to detail that means they do not do well. A badly kept pool is a killer as far as she is concerned. One complex not so far away has been on the market for three years, they have changed agent several times, she had her go but none of her few viewings amounted to any interest. The place is dingy and the man there a miserable so and so who dislikes children and pets, his wife simply appears depressed. No doubt that does not help either running the place or selling it on.
The other is how many people still do not want to become far more involved with the use of electronic bookings, payment and so on. On top of that, Brits often lack enough or any French to get enough of that part of the business to survive and there are b'n'b type of places that will offer a full English breakfast which makes the dining area smell of food for too long so that people who prefer a coffee and croissant or bowl of cornflakes who don't like the smell first thing do not stay or return. My sis-in-law stayed at one whilst visiting us. It was a hot spell but breakfast was not permitted on the terrace which they preferred people not to use until after lunch! Smokers had to go off the property on to the road because no smoking was tolerated on the grounds at all. She does not smoke but felt that that was draconian.
There was a whole list of other things my OH has picked up, including almost universal things I have noticed when travelling for work that are worldwide. She now cringes when small accommodation goes up for sale and she is asked to take it on. One common denominator seems to have been how many people who bought a decade or more ago cannot accept the drop in value and try to argue that as an established business that they have invested in it should be worth more than they bought for.
There are obviously good ideas and clear successes on this thread. Some places like Barbara's are unique and special, but then they have a history in hospitality behind them. Unlike many other realms it strikes me that there is a lack of training available that would help people improve their offer and the marketing, especially use of electronic media. Both Alex and Norman have picked up on that and there is almost certainly more to be done than joining one of the networks. I was just intrigued by the thread which more than answered Michael's original question having seen and heard local people in that business and of them saying a lot of what is appearing here. Most of them, I hasten to add, are French rather than UK or other incomers. Most of it is the same whatever the language I hear it in.
Kirsten.....There is a time in your life when it is the "correct thing" to stop
working. The definition of being old, perhaps is when a person stops working.
Then you move on to the finer things of life like bingo, becoming the unpaid
nannie for the grandchildren, the master of crossword puzzles, and a member
of the Darby and Joan Club.
Being a Gite owner or a bed and breakfast host is a good way to carry on living
like a working person being responsible, active and meeting new people all the time
and providing some income.
For me it is second nature to provide a backdrop, an environment where clients can
enjoy themselves and I can see that not everyone has the same working background
or aspirations as I do.
I came here to France to create this venture not to have an easy life in the sun.
When we arrived we envisaged working for 5 more years and then downsize....it is now
nearly eight years and we are planning to move on but despite all the difficult moments,
the French paper trail and complications I am picturing "the easy life" and imagining the
next stage.
So much good sense on this post, very refreshing, and although not a gite owner nor ever having been one, I did do a marketing study on the industry a few years back, and will just add one small(?) factor that I recall and that was it required a minimum of three gites renting out for 12 weeks a year (Easter was a bonus I remember). Even then the demand for better facilities - notably a large swimming pool, entertainment area, TV etc., was evident.
Although I do sometimes wonder why people go away on holiday and remained glued to their mobile 'phones and iPads, i have a feeling that as others have noted Gites are no longer an inexpensive option, so must offer a lot more now. I have seen the group rentals of Chateaux appearing, and possibly more ominously the explosion of Airbnb.
The market is more demanding, again as others have noted, and costs as ever are rising, so as an investment it wouldn't appeal to me very much. I do agree with the Niche approach particularly at the high end, but the points on Camping sites and Campervan parks seems a far better idea to me, but quite what the Health and Safety implications on this is unknown to me, but would certainly need checking out.
Barbara, we all have to work, unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or other fortunate circumstances, I mean, who WOULDN'T want to be on a permanent vacation? But when you think about it, having to give up your home if you decide not to continue working in your chosen field is not normally one of the things one has to face.
Very good point Holly. My husband says that if we have an extra bedroom or two to rent out once in awhile that would be a good source for EXTRA money, but we should not count on that income to help sustain whatever lifestyle we choose to pursue. (we haven't moved back to France yet).
It is very true what you say, thank you for contributing.
Holly if you think about it.
If you need to work and you prefer not to work ....you are trapped...
in a manner of speaking.
Interesting.
Wendy not sure how it works....how you choose your properties
other than the property needs to have facilities for children...in
the fun direction and safety.
Well I had all that in place....
I even have everything for small kids to make cookies, cakes and decorate them
with silver and gold.
There is a waffle machine, an ice cream maker and a brand new pop corn
machine.There is a cupboard full of cute dolls and bears and toys of all kinds.
2 years ago when I came to YOU...Tots you did not entertain my
place. My direction has now changed and I work with people who
appreciate what we have created. One company is based in California.
Social media is what exactly Wendy?
It doesn't matter whether or not someone has an interest in a certain agency. The fact is Wendy's usp may well be offering child/baby safe accomodation to parents who can travel out of season - I would have loved to have been able to work with that market but sadly our gites needed too much investment to bring them up to totstotravel standard. Indeed we pulled out when we realised that we couldn't get a decent Atout-France accreditation without spending a large amount of money that we would never recuperate.
Atout-France are trying to put some quality standard into the tourist rental secteur
I do social media for tots freelance yes. I do not own the company.
I also run the gites I'm referring to freelance and receive no commission or preference for bookings.
The gites when set up where done so entirely with this niche market in mind.
Others I help run don't get this level of bookings.